Can’t reply in a 1.5 way SMS (New Zealand to US)

[asoens]

So I’m in the States (US Cellular), and my boyfriend is in New Zealand (Vodafone). The two providers ARE compatible, albeit as US Cellular explains, only via 1.5 way messaging. Which would be fine, if it worked.

I’m able to text him just fine (AKA he’s able to receive them), but he is unable to text me (and both of us can call each other no problems). I understand that with 1.5 way messaging, he can’t create a new text to initiate a conversation, but he should be able to simply hit Reply to respond… However the number that appears on his phone when he gets a text from me is a UK number: +447797806021 (which after google-ing appears to be an SMS gateway??) Long story short, I can text him, but he can’t text me. Been a lot of one-way conversations going on! Help?

[asoens]

Also, thought I’d add that my mother has the same provider as me (US Cellular) and when I tried texting him from her phone, the same +44 number appears. When I text him using my Dad’s phone (Sprint) my Dad’s normal number appears. And my boyfriend has a friend in D.C. that he is able to text freely – that’s why I think it has something to do with US Cellular rather than Vodafone (though I’ve been in the store and called Customer Service probably a total of 5 times now and no now seems to have any answers…)
Hope you can help!
Thanks!

[admin]

Hi,

I removed your duplicate message.

Has your friend tried to reply to your messages? Other users have reported receiving text messages with the same UK number appearing as the sender and being able to reply. It seems that the network somehow remembers the actual number the text message comes from and directs the message to it. Here’s an older thread where this same issue is discussed (although people trying to text each other are from other countries).

Let us know if this helped.

[asoens]

That’s what is so frustrating! From everything that I have read and been told, he SHOULD be able to do just that – simply hit reply and the message be directed, but I just never receive anything… The same thing happened when he tried to reply to my mother’s phone (the same provider as me), no message was ever received. And whenever I call US Cellular, the person I talk to never seems to know that much about international texting so they end up being just as confused as I am..

[Author]

Posts